The main function of conventional shower caps/bathing caps is to keep the wearer's hair dry while the wearer engages activities wherein the hair may become wet, like showering, or bathing. Another function that the shower cap serves is keeping the hair lifted and out of the user's way, so that the user may freely wash the face and neck. It is known that the common shower cap is basically comprised of a plastic or vinyl material cut into a circular shape, the circumference of which is gathered by elastic. This design suffers many shortcomings.
Using a shower cap proves time consuming and frustrating for many women because it is necessary to tuck the hair into the one opening of the shower cap. Because in some cases it is impossible to tuck all of the hair, the shower cap does not offer protection against moisture at the hairline. Conventional shower caps also offer little stability and often shift with the weight of the hair, causing the confined hair to fall into the way—around the face and/or neck of the wearer—rendering the cap ineffective, annoying and uncomfortable. Women also complain about creases in the forehead made by the elastic which is sometimes encased (in a channel) or not encased (exposed). Also, women have expressed concern with the lack of breathability offered by the plastic typically used for shower caps.
In order to gain the benefit of confining the hair without tucking, some women began using the Tassi hair wrap, a product which is protected by U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,909. The Tassi can be applied to the head by inserting the head through two openings, obviating the need to tuck the hair. It also allows the hair to breathe. However, it provides no waterproof component. It also features a pocket at the rear that hangs below the hairline, onto the nape of the neck, which does not work well for bathing and therapeutic soaking because the neck cannot be fully submerged into the water without the pocket of hair dipping into the bathwater and becoming wet.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/756,154 proposes the benefit of two openings in a bathing cap, possessing a waterproof layer and hair confining layer, in order to obviate the need to tuck the hair into a shower cap. The wearer gains the benefit of ease of application because of the two openings, and derives the benefit of protection from splashing water because of the waterproof layer, and still, the wearer's hair is allowed to breathe because the second opening remains open. Additionally, because the bathing cap lifts the hair completely off of the nape of the neck, the user can submerge her neck completely into a bath of water. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/222,401 later proposed a waterproof head covering with the benefit of two openings, the second of which can be closed with a draw-cord system. The design, however, fails to lift the hair above the hairline and more importantly, completely off of the neck, thereby preventing a wearer from allowing water to come into direct contact with her neck, without the confined hair being in the way. It also suffers the shortcoming of using elastic in the opening that fits around the forehead.
There is a need for a shower cap/bathing cap that lifts the hair up above the hairline and completely off of the face and neck, while providing additional protection at the crown of the head, and that offers more stability to the lifted and confined hair, while not creating elastic creases in the forehead.